He is the fifth player in the last three seasons to swap St Mary's for Anfield after Dejan Lovren, Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana and Nathaniel Clyne all made the same move to the north-west.

Mane will become Liverpool's third most expensive signing after Andy Carroll (£35million) and Christian Benteke (£32.5m), whose own future at the club has been cast into further doubt by this latest deal.

Liverpool are still hoping to tie up deals for Leicester left-back Ben Chilwell and Poland midfielder Piotr Zielinski as part of their summer transfer spending.